A flight management system (or “FMS”) is a computer system that operates aboard an aircraft. Flight management systems may receive a variety of avionics data and may, based upon the received data, automate a wide variety of in-flight tasks (e.g., navigation tasks).
Often times, flight management (and other) systems are accessed and controlled through one or more multifunction control display units (or “MCDUs”). Conventional MCDUs may include a low resolution display (e.g., a low resolution LCD display) and a keypad. Conventional MCDUs often comprise a large hardware bundle packaged within an MCDU cabinet. Thus, conventional MCDUs can be quite heavy, and any changes to MCDU functionality frequently require hardware redesign and/or hardware reconfiguration.
During operation, a pilot or copilot may manipulate the physical keys comprising the MCDU keypad to navigate to a particular FMS feature or function, such as, for example, an airport identification code, a radio frequency, a flight plan, and the like. Thus, to reach an FMS feature or function, it may be necessary that a pilot utilize the keypad to navigate through a set of menus and/or submenus using the keypad. Therefore, to reach a desired feature or function, a pilot may be required to recall and execute a number of button presses and/or other manual operations using the keypad. This process may consume time and focus, particularly where the pilot is unfamiliar with the feature and/or function being sought. The difficulty associated with locating the desired feature or function may be magnified during circumstances (e.g., landing) that may give rise to a high or fluctuating workload. Moreover, low resolution MCDU displays may fail to support a variety of non-English characters, rendering many existing MCDU displays unusable to pilots who are not trained to use English MCDU displays.
Hence, there is a need for a more pilot-friendly MCDU, such as for example, a tablet (e.g., a tablet computing device) MCDU. There is further a need for an MCDU having a touchscreen interface, as well as an MCDU that can be reconfigured on the fly, without hardware redesign, as well as an MCDU that supports a variety of non-standard (e.g., non-ASCII characters. A need further exists for an MCDU that reduces pilot workload, such as an MCDU that accepts voice commands, rather than and/or in addition to, as described above, manual command entries. A need further exists for an MCDU that includes wireless communication capability, one or more proximity sensors, one or more accelerometers, and the like.